Movie Quote of the Day (‘The Raven,’ As Poe’s Creature Offers an Unexpected Answer)

Dr. Craven [played by Vincent Price, center] [to The Raven]: “Who sent you to me?”

[The Raven stares at him silently]

Dr. Craven: “Are you some dark-winged messenger from beyond?”

[Still no answer]

Dr. Craven:” Answer me, monster, tell me truly!”

[sadly]

Dr. Craven: “Shall I ever hold again that radiant maiden whom the angels call Lenore?”

Dr. Bedloe [played by Peter Lorre, left] [as The Raven] “How the hell should I know? What am I, a fortune teller?”—The Raven (1963), screenplay by Richard Matheson, very, very loosely suggested by the Edgar Allan Poe poem, directed by Roger Corman

As soon as I heard this exchange, I burst out laughing, at the sheer surprise over Edgar Allan Poe being sent up. That line from The Raven was ad libbed by Peter Lorre during production of the film.

The actor’s penchant for improvisation deeply annoyed co-star Boris Karloff (right). In a post-film question-and-answer session at the Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee, NJ last week, Sara Karloff and Victoria Price, daughters of the two horror icons, related this and other anecdotes about their fathers, holding forth in as entertaining a fashion as what the audience had just witnessed on screen.

Accustomed to English theatrical tradition of learning his lines cold, Karloff was constantly made uncomfortable by Lorre, who was more used to improvisation from his time with continental European troupes. It fell to Vincent Price, who had trained in both styles in London and American stages, to become the go-between for his two co-stars. (This was the fifth and last film together for Price and Lorre, who died a year after its release.)

Among the other anecdotes shared by Ms. Karloff and Ms. Price:

*Karloff, still under contract for a couple of days for producer-director Roger Corman, found himself acting in a hastily created film for rookie director Peter Bogdanovich, Targets.

*Jack Nicholson, in one of his earliest roles, did not turn in one of the more impressive performances of his career.

*The beautiful cinematography for the movie was created by Floyd Crosby, father of rock ‘n’ roller David Crosby.

*Karloff made 80 films after coming to Hollywood in the silent era, but people forgot all of them until his 81st, Frankenstein, he told his daughter.

*Price came to London in the mid-Thirties to study art history, but he enjoyed the theater so much that he eventually tried out for a play, and began his acting career there. Nevertheless, Ms. Price observed, he never lost his love for art--not only being an avid collector himself and serving on the board of museums, but even staying at cheaper hotels and buying lower-price tickets to spend on paintings.

*Price credited his first notable horror success, House of Wax (1953), for keeping his name before the public, at a time when Hollywood had "graylisted" him for past political activity--i.e., not subjecting him to the full ban that blacklisting represented, but ensuring he would only get lesser roles.